Twenty Five Years Later
by Sam o' Rama
Summary: Peeta reflects back on all that he loved and lost. An extremely uncreative title but hopefully it's better than it sounds. DON'T OWN THG! Rated T just because I'm paranoid.


**A/N: First fanfic. Please don't flame :)**

His brush caressed the canvas, a soft, swift stroke, a final touch to a masterpiece. The greens and blues and grays made the landscape complete, crafted by a man who had been painting for what seemed like a century. The picture was of the valley below, each pine and rock replicated in the pastels. His work wasn't what it had been. His hands were old now, clumsy with age. But once an artist, always an artist.

_Dark eyes, set on a blank snake's face. An evil grin as he locks a rebel's cage._

The wind whispers its winter song around Peeta, sending fire red leafs into a frenzy. He pulls his coat closer to him but it was almost as if the leather had turned to paper. He was cold. So cold.

_Black. Everything is black. They are never returning, they are never coming back for him._

When she left so many years ago, it was if she had taken his heart as well. He had loved her more than anything, but she had never returned his feelings. The rebellion had taken her heart, run away with it. And it had taken his as well.

"_Peeta," she whispers through the silver bars of the cage. "We need to move, and we need to move fast."_

"_And just how are we going to that?"_

_She smiles and he steps out from the shadows, his gray eyes alight like kindling._

Madge didn't mind though. Her heart had been stolen too by a certain boy with gray eyes. People said they were perfect for each other, the last survivors of era that seemed like ages ago. It was true. Madge numbed his pain. At times, it was as though there was no pain. But hours later it would come crashing back, worse than before.

_Peeta wasn't as fast as them. Peeta was falling behind….Tripping and stumbling behind. The boy with the gray eyes turns his head. He knew Peeta wasn't going to make it, he knew he was done…He knew….In that moment, he knew everything. He knew the grim future that awaited them all._

He threw himself into painting. Landscapes, pets, children, memories, they all appeared in his art. He had a whole room with face after face from the rebellion. The old drunk's final stand, Finnick's valiant fight with his trident, a little bird tucked under in a bed of flowers. But Katniss's face held the most wall space. Holding her bow as she taught Madge how to shoot, holding her sister's hand as the world came crashing down, her eyes, so sad, as she walked away from him.

"_Run Peeta, you idiot! Get out of the way! If you die before we get out, if this was all for nothing, I swear my ghost is going to make you miserable in the afterlife!"_

"Papa?"

Peeta looks behind him, startled by the voice. Rose stands behind him. She's dressed in her mother's clothing, all too big for her. Her blonde, curly locks are tucked behind one ear and her big blue eyes are wide.

Despite himself, Peeta smiles. "Yes Rose?"

"_What are you doing?" But doesn't listen. He had always been the rebellious one._

Rose stares at him curiously. "Did you paint that Papa?"

"Yes Rose."

_And he runs back the way he came._

Rose shyly steps closer to him, examining his work. She looks like Rue, shyly approaching Katniss. Katniss, so willing to help those in need.

"_What are you doing?!" She repeats, more urgent now. _

And something inside of him breaks. He opens his arms and Rose runs into them. He holds her tightly, fearing that he might break her.

_He shrugs and smiles. "I'll drop it somewhere." And he pockets the timed bomb, his own design. Slowly, it ticks, the minutes slipping away as they run. But as well as an explosion, it is also a countdown to something more..._

The tears come fast. He can't stop them now. He has held it all in for so long. Rose grips him tighter, her little fists clutching the fabric of his shirt.

"_Go," he says. "Climb the ladder already. I'll follow you."_

Rose touches his cheek, wiping away tears.

"Why are you crying Papa?" She asks.

_He fights well, a distraction that saved their life's as they scrambled up the ladder to the helicraft that would take them to safety. But one against forty is a suicide mission._

"Oh, Rose," He says, choking on his tears. "I'm a terrible person."

"No you're not Papa," She says. "Or else you wouldn't have married Mama."

_The bomb flies from his hands, a spiraling ark in the sky. Time is up. The world erupts in flame._

Before he can answer, a voice from behind stops him. "Peeta!"

_His name echoes through the air, the only sound coming from her mouth._

Peeta lets go of his daughter and turns to face Madge. Her hair is disheveled, the curls flying about her porcelain pale face. The dress she wears does little shield her from the cold. But her smile is visible even from this distance.

"A telegram from Posy!" She says, holding a white envelope up for all to see. "She wishes to invite us for tea tomorrow. Of course she'll send for someone to pick us up and bring us to town, but what do you think?"

Peeta forces a smile. "That would be great."

Madge glances down at the letter. "President, wow Peeta, how time flies. It seems like only yesterday she wasjust a little girl." Madge looks up at him. "Gale would be so proud of her."

Gale…

_Gale…That barely recognizable boy they haul onto the helicraft. His breathing is shallow and ragged. Angry red and black burns cover him. He is going to die._

_Katniss hovers over him. Tears run freely down her face as she clutches his hand. He looks up at her, his eyes saying everything he cannot._

"_Peeta." he whispers._

_Peeta walks over to the dying boy, his handsome feature distorted by blood. _

"_It's yours now." And he smiles his last smile._

Peeta grips his wife's hand in his and gives it a squeeze. Rose holds her other hand. The world swirls around them and reds blur with greens and greens with blues. And suddenly, he's watching Katniss leave him again, walking into the woods, never to be seen again. His lips tingle as she kisses him for the first time. He sees her volunteering for her sister. His father points to a little girl in a red dress on his first day of school.

_Katniss…_

Peeta pulls himself back into reality. Folding his easel and trusting Madge with his painting, the three of make their way home. Rose skips excitedly ahead of them while Peeta and Madge walk side by side making small talk.

A lynx spies them from its perch. Its glassy eyes reflect the scene below it with little interest. After a short time, the lynx turns its attention back on his paws.


End file.
